1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to clean-up of hazardous fluid waste material including that containing oil or petroleum products, and removal of such hazardous fluid waste material from bodies of water, and more particularly, to the use of oleophilic sorbent material such as waterfowl feathers contained in or formed as a porous bladder and insertably removable from within a reusable mesh carrier apparatus or a carrier formed without the mesh in which the sorbent material is held together with adhesive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,820 ('820) discloses a method of removing oil from a body of water by means of an apparatus constructed of flexible mesh container filled with duck feathers. Said apparatus, as a whole, being removably insertable into the contaminated water.
The apparatus disclosed in '820 worked well for the intended purpose of rapid removal of petroleum from water bodies after an oil spill, but it did require some storage space for the apparatus. Further, for the apparatus to be reused, the entire apparatus had to be removed from the body of water, routed through a device to squeeze out the absorbed oil and then reinserted into the body of water. During the time the apparatus was out of the water, the oil slick was unconfined and could spread. '820 attempted to solve this problem by providing a second apparatus parallel to the first apparatus which would confine the oil slick while the first apparatus was being removed. The first apparatus would then be reinserted into the water behind the second apparatus a difficult feat of topology if performed from a small service boat.
Further, the disposal of the entire '820 apparatus continues to be an unsolved problem in view of the considerable size of the used apparatus saturated with oil and having a percentage of the apparatus which may be composed of non-biodegradable material such as fiber glass mesh coated with polyvinyl resin. The used '820 apparatus could present a toxic waste disposal problem of a different character.
The object of the present invention is to increase the convenience, versatility, and provide a solution to the disposal problem presented by the '820 apparatus.
The bladder taught by this invention could be removably inserted into the '820 boom to initially provide the sorbent material and when saturated replaced without removal of the entire '820 apparatus from the surface of the water. This will simplify the use of '820 and aid in eliminating the disposal problems.
Another U.S. patent, Ser. No. 4,752,393 ('393) provides an apparatus which forms a pathway to skim the hazardous material from the surface of the water while providing a surface boom and sub-surface curtain for containment. The '393 apparatus incorporates flotation material to provide the neutral buoyancy to the device. It further incorporates spring steel coils to maintain the boom in a spherical cross section configuration. Both the flotation material and the steel coils incorporated into the '393 device will be contaminated by the hazardous material and will present disposal problems.
Part of the '393 device may be used as the carrier for the bladder taught by this invention. The bladder taught by this invention could be removably inserted into the '393 boom to provide the cross section configuration and the required buoyancy while eliminating the above disposal problems of contaminated steel coils and flotation material.
Thus, there has long been a need for an arrangement to assist a user of containment booms by providing a reusable, replaceable sorbent to the boom deployed on the water and which may be safely serviced by a person in a boat on the water.
It is desired that this device be easy to store and easy to use at a moments notice.
It is further desired that the device not itself present a safety hazard to the user during replacement in the boom carrier apparatus such as either the '820 or the '393 apparatus.
It is yet further desired that the device itself not add to the accumulation of hazardous fluid waste.